JR, the Paris-based steet artist that won a TED Award and has since been continuing to expose at-risk communities around the world through his art, will be debuting his short documentary based on “Les Bosquets” and Potraits of a Generation during the Tribeca Film Festival in April. The music is by Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams and Woodkid.
The film “Les Bosquets” brings the audience to a place where art, social uproar, and the power of image interweave based on the performance of the ballet Les Bosquets of New York City Ballet (2014) inspired by the riots in the French suburbs in 2005. JR reveals its experience in the ghetto of Montfermeil where he created his first project, Portrait of a Generation. This film is a continuation of this project, for which he uses various means of expression and narration: video archives, choreography and testimony.
JR first presented the premiere of Les Bosquets on April 29. 2014, a ballet which he created in collaboration with New York City Ballet with original music by Woodkid, and guest dancer Lil Buck. For his debuts as a choreographer JR brought 42 dancers on stage. Les Bosquets was inspired by JR’s first art project, Portrait of a Generation, and by the riots that happened in France in 2005.
The first portraits from Portrait of a Generation were displayed on the walls of the last popular neighborhoods of the capital, in Eastern Paris. After a first illegal exhibition on the walls of the Cité des Bosquets, JR settled in the heart of this neighborhood and the neighboring projects ofLa Forestière, in Clichy-sous-Bois, where the 2005 riots started.
His images challenge the passers-by, in the sense that they question the social and media representation of a generation which can be seen only at the gates of Paris.
Here is more from Les Bosquets.
